If It's Too Loud...

Say Sue Me have been around for ten years, but this year was when I discovered the Busan, South Korea band. (I have a friend who lived in South Korea for years and saw them a bunch of times, but never told me about them. I'm still mad at her for this.) Their 2022 release, The Last Thing Left goes far beyond their self-described "surf rock" genre. While the songs all fit together masterfully, they all combine elements of shoegaze, indie rock, and indie pop with surf rock. The songs comprising this album also range from upbeat, cheery tracks to much more somber and moody ones as the band processes the 2019 death of their original drummer Semin Kang. You get the moody shoegaze-heavy "Still Here" immediately followed by the Brit-pop level cheeriness of "Around You."  The Last Thing Left combines their 1960's surf rock influences with 1990's indie rock to make this completely unique sound that is both a throwback and completely original. "To Dr...

Photo by Lim So South Korean surf-inspired band Say Sue Me are back with a new single before their album comes out tomorrow. "No Real Place" is this wonderfully dreamy alt-rock song with some hints of dream pop and shoegaze. As poppy and upbeat as the track is, it is just doused with fuzzy guitars that keep it from being too cheery. Plus, I had never quite heard the surf inspiration for Say Sue Me, but in the guitar solo on this one I can fully hear it. "No Real Place" is a hybrid of alt-rock, power pop, surf, and shoegaze, and if you think you need to hear that you have no idea how glorious this song truly is. Vocalist/guitarist Sumi Choi says of the new song and video: “There's been a lot of parting ways over the years. Spent a long time missing someone. And I usually walk... "I gained courage as I walked, and now I think I can overcome the sadness and fear of someone leaving. The illustration is a cat, which the video director uses as an allegory for the...

Photo by Lim So "Surf inspired indie rock band" Say Sue Me have just released a strong candidate for song of the year. The Busan, South Korea quartet's "To Dream" is this delightful mix of dream pop and indie rock. The track is as gorgeous as it is mesmerizing, with vocals and guitar work that is nearly dreamlike. It's a hazy and breezy track, and then the guitar cacophony kicks in. The last third of the song is a brilliant display of noise, kind of like Sonic Youth's later period when their chaos was more about beauty than aggression. The guitars just swirl around each other in the most delightful way during this burst, and "To Dream" is going to end up on a lot of year end playlists to come. Vocalist and guitarist Sumi Choi says of the new song: “I dreamed that everyone was alive, and I came to think that there might be no end. One day everyone will come back and meet somewhere." You can watch the video for "To Dream" below. Th...

Photo by Lim So Busan, South Korea's Say Sue Me have been around for ten years, but we're just discovering now. The four piece have released "Around You" which is an impossibly sunny indie rock song. It's reminding me a bunch of Go! era Letters to Cleo meets more modern bands like The Beths. There are even sonic references to classics from the 1960's particularly towards the end. The song is along the poppier side of indie rock, but it's definitely more rock than pop. "Around You" is the kind of song it's impossible not to smile while listening to, if only just a little bit. Vocalist/guitarist Sumi Choi says of the new song: "In a world where it became difficult to go outside and meet people freely, I felt like time is totally mine, but I still don't know how to control it. My thoughts linger and dwell within me and my youth is slipping away. Perhaps when I go outside something is waiting for me that makes me think better than this!”...